Macedonian Jews

Macedonian Jews are a minority group in Macedonia whose history reaches back to the time of the Roman Republic. They enjoyed a sizeable community in Skopje, Stip, and Bitola under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, but after the Holocaust and the mass emigration to Israel, only 200 Jews remain in Maccedonia.

History
The history of the Jews in Macedonia dates back to the time of the Roman Republic's rule over Macedonia, when many Jews fled persecution in other lands to come to Macedonia. In 165 AD Tiberius Polycharmus built a synagogue out of his villa, including a dining hall, residence, and prayer hall, one of the most impressive diaspora temples. During the First Crusade from 1095-1099, the Pelagonia and Skopje Jews suffered heavily, and their minority remained small for the next few hundred years. However, the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid II of Turkey welcomed Jews from Spain and Portugal forced to flee their homes during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions after 1492. Many Sephardim immigrated to Macedonia, and although Enea Silvio Piccolomini's Imperial army razed Skopje in 1688 during the Great Turkish War and damaged the community, they remained strong. A sizeable community of 891 Sephardic laborers inhabited Bitola, one of the largest centers of Jews in the Ottoman Empire.

The Macedonian Jews were persecuted under Nazi Germany and Fascist Bulgaria from 1942 to 1945 during the Holocaust, during which many were deported to concentration and extermination camps, where many of them died. After the war's end, many of the surviving Jews emigrated to Israel, leaving only 200 Jews in Macedonia as of 2015.